Blood lust
by FearandLoathingXIX
Summary: Mikan was just an ordinary tomboy at Alice Academy when she suddenly started having blackouts. Why does she wake up with blood on her clothes? And those marks on her neck? The mysterious new student Natsume might have something to do with this. Vampirefic
1. The curious meeting

Thought I'd try a new direction! If you liked 'Curse of Curves' from my other fic 'some things never change' you'll hopefully like this!!  


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It was a dark, cold, dreary night on the Alice Academy campus; most people were staying inside, except for one – Mikan Sakura (who else?), who was walking home alone.

"Dammit Hotaru!" she shouted angrily. "How could you forget we had plans to go out because of your inventions _again_?!" She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her big boys' hoodie and stormed down the dark tree-lined pathways. She loved Hotaru, but she was always so busy with her inventions that sometimes it was like she forgot she had a best friend at all. Not to mention they had been moved to separate building blocks in the Academy too.

Even if she _did _look like a boy, that was no reason to put her in the boys dormitory! But apparently there had been some kind of mistake because Mikan was such a tomboy, always wearing boys' hoodies and pants – she'd never worn a pair of high heels in her _life – _that in their last year of Alice Academy she had been put in the boys' Dorm... and she was _still _a no star.

Yes, Mikan didn't have much going for her at this time. Her grades were shaky at best, she lived with all the boys – most of which ignored her or thought she _was _a boy. Not that she cared, Mikan didn't want to be just another one of the stupid girls at Alice who wore heaps of makeup, rolled up their skirts and flirted with all the hot guys to find a boyfriend. She didn't believe that she needed a guy to prove her self worth, that was just a stupid lie propagated by magazines and tv shows.

All the guys at her school were idiots anyway, so she was better off being ignored by everyone and called 'Mikan-kun' by even her teachers. She only needed her best friends Hotaru and Ruka by her side, they'd been friends since they started the Academy.

Mikan kicked a can with the toe of her sneakers as she walked between two old classroom blocks, and it clattered down the alleyway loudly and then came to a stop; however, after a few moments it came bouncing back down the alley towards Mikan... just as if someone had kicked it back.

"Hello?" she asked. "Is someone there?" She heard no voice of response, but instead a low hiss and then a growl. She thought at first it was just a cat, but then a dark shadow stepped out from the walls and came toward her.

"Funny," he said in a hypnotic purr. "You don't even _look _like a girl..."

"Who are you?!" Mikan yelled. "And... so what if I look like a boy! That's none of _your_ business!"

The figure walked up to her, close enough that she could see he was a boy about her age, wearing an Academy Uniform, only Mikan had never seen his face before. His features were half-shadowed, but even then she could tell he was a very striking person. Large, crimson eyes lined with sharp thin eyebrows dominated his face, they seemed to pierce he very soul. But there was darkness in them too, a terrifying darkness.

"You may dress like a male," he said seductively. "But I can hunt you down all the same – your scent is _unique_ to me." He grinned and dazzling white teeth flashed, as if they gave out their own light. It wasn't until he took another step forwards that Mikan realized something was very wrong.

"Who are you?!" she screamed, trying to step backwards away from him, but she tripped on a water pipe and went crashing backwards onto her ass. "OW!!" she yelled. "That hurt!"

The boy before her laughed, and now Mikan caught sight of the razor-sharp points on the teeth further back in his mouth; his _fangs._

"Not very graceful, either," he sneered, and then in a flash – faster than her eyes could follow – he grabbed her by the front of her hoodie and pulled her to her feet before him, lifting her as if she weighed no more than a feather.

"Get away from me!" she whimpered, trying to pull his hand off her hoodie, but his fingers were ice cold and like steel, she couldn't budge even one.

"But we hardly even know each other," he said darkly. "Don't you want to get to know me a bit?"

"Why would I want to know a creep like you!" Mikan screeched. "Let go of me! Help! Help someone!" He reached out with his other hand and sealed her lips closed.

"Shhhhh," he hissed. "We'll have no more of that." He tipped her head back and bore her soft pale neck. "You may not want to get to know _me_," he whispered seductively as he inched his mouth closer and closer towards Mikan's neck, and she tried to convince herself this couldn't be real and she was just having a bad dream.

"But I want to know _you_..." As he hissed the last words, he closed his mouth around her soft virgin skin and began to dig in with his sharp teeth. Mikan couldn't process this; she had just been walking home, there was no way she was now being attacked by a _vampire_, no way this transfixing, captivating boy had his fangs digging into her neck and was going to drink her blood. She thought all the rumours were just _talk_, she never expected them to be _real!_

Just as she tried to scream for help again, Mikan felt dizzy, and became aware that he had punctured her skin now and was sucking the blood from her neck. His hands were now tight around her shoulders and to a normal passer-by it might have looked like they were lovers. Mikan fought the haze closing in on her and tried to do something, but her head became too heavy, and her eyes too sore from drowsiness, and soon she passed out; limp in his arms.

As he finished feeding, the vampire pushed his raven-black hair out of his eyes and grinned, his lips reddened from his bitter nectar. He wiped his mouth and allowed Mikan to slump over one of his arms, still bleeding heavily from her neck.

"Can't have that," he chuckled, and then craning down his head he drew the tip of his tongue across her puncture wounds and they instantly began to heal. She would have no memory of this when she woke up tomorrow. "Where shall we leave you, hm?" he said to her sarcastically, knowing full well she could not hear him. "I know just the place," he muttered, and then shifting her onto his back he slipped back into the shadows – passing silently between the dark buildings, to leave her on a bench outside the infirmry. He took one last look at her before leaving, and licked a trace of her blood off one of his fangs – there was something odd about her blood, but he couldn't place what.

Never mind, it mattered not now. The boy laughed; she wouldn't remember a thing.

"Farewell," he whispered, reaching out to toy with a lock of her hair that had fallen over her face, "_Mikan_."

The next morning Mikan awoke with a blood-stained t-shirt and a hell of an ache in her neck, but she couldn't remember what on earth had happened to her. She still had what little money she owned and although there was blood she wasn't cut anywhere; although she had a _killer _headache.

"What _happened _to me...?" she murmured, and then she saw the infirmary clock and realzied she had half an hour to get to class. "AH!" she screamed. "I can't go to class covered in blood!"

After rushing back to her room, at the jeering of a few of the boys she passed for being late _as usual_, Mikan showered and pulled on one of her old band t-shirts and a clean pair of uniform trousers – her last clean shirt was now covered in blood, as was her blazer. She couldn't turn up to class like that without being questioned, so she just went as she was, and to hell with Jinno for yelling at her. He needed a good excuse every now and again.

"Sorry I'm late!" she yelled as she shouldered open the door of her classroom fifteen minutes after the bell went. "I had a...OOF!" she ran into the classroom and crashed straight into the back of a dark-haired boy, who pushed her back hard enough to send her tumbling down to the floor in front of everyone.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped, and Mikan was about to get up and yell at him for blocking entrance-ways when she saw his face. Piercing red eyes, midnight black hair and a face that was almost perfect to look at... why did she recognise him?

Stunned into silence, Mikan didn't even hear the rest of her class laughing at her, or the girls at the back conspiring to get her for bumping into the hot new transfer student so rudely.

"Get up Mikan-kun," her teacher growled, and Mikan scrambled to her feet. "Not only are you late and not in uniform, but you missed the new student being introduced and instead _attacked _him." Mikan blushed a little, especially as the new guy wouldn't stop staring at her.

"Sorry," she muttered, getting up and brushing herself down. "I'm Mikan Sakura, nice to meet you." She held out her hand to him awkwardly, but he didn't bother shaking it.

"Natsume," he clipped. "You're in my way... _Mikan." _Mikan's memory flashed and flickered, but she couldn't work out what it was trying to tell her. Natsume's eyes also never left her as he walked down to take a seat.

"Sit next to me Hyuuga-san!" Sumire said girlishly. Natsume ignored her, and instead sat down at the back next to Ruka: _Mikan's _friend. She was about to go up and take her usual seat at that desk too when the teacher stopped her.

"Mikan-kun, if you can't wear your uniform properly, don't bother coming to class at all," he sneered. Mikan didn't say anything, because she could hardly tell him there was _blood _all over her uniform, that had even soaked through her usual massive hoodie. Now all she had to wear was her faded heavy metal band t-shirt, and that was never going to go down well with her classmates or teachers either.

And for some reason Natsume _still_ wouldn't stop staring at her.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I had to leave in a rush and..."

"Never mind," the teacher snapped. "Just sit down and _try_ not to cause any more disturbances."

"Hey Mikan," Ruka said, as his best friend and long-term crush took her seat between him and Hotaru as usual – Natsume, for some reason, was sitting on the end of their four person desk without saying a word, but occasionally glancing over in Mikan's direction.

"Morning, Ruka-Pyon," she said cheerfully.

"You didn't come back last night, Mikan," Ruka said worriedly; their rooms were right next to each other, so he could hear when she opened and closed her door. "What happened?"

"Oh... I..." Mikan said vaguely. "I... uh... stayed over with Hotaru! Then I was late in the morning and I left all my clothes there! Ahahaha!" Ruka stared at her quizzically, but Mikan knew if she told him the truth he'd get all worried. She felt fine now, so it was probably nothing to worry about.

The rest of the day passed without trouble, and Mikan managed to sneak her clothes out to be washed without raising any suspicion.

"Yo, Mikan-kun," a few of the lads teased as she walked down to the laundry room with her washing in her arms. "No one wants to see _your _dirty washing!" They all laughed, but Mikan just kept walking. The boys in her dorm either treated her like one of the guys or an outsider, or both, but it was easy to get used to in the end and it was probably better than the girls dorm, where there would be squealing all the time and all those airheads running around swapping clothes and makeup and doing their hair.

She fitted in best here, if she fitted in at all.

"What was up with that Natsume guy, huh?" Ruka said to Mikan on the way back to their rooms after dinner.

"I know, he sat by us but didn't say anything all day," Mikan mused.

"Maybe he's shy?" Ruka suggested.

"I don't know, he seems more arrogant than shy. Maybe he just didn't want to sit with Permy," Mikan laughed, and Ruka chuckled along with her. They parted at their respective doors.

"Goodnight, Mikan!" Ruka said brightly.

"Night Ruka-pyon!" Mikan returned, and then strolled into her room.

Undressing, she pulled off her t-shirt and put on another larger one to sleep in, slipping off her sports bra and underwear putting them in a laundry bag. They were about the only things that made her different to the guys here.

It was another cold night, and Mikan thought she had locked her windows to keep out the wind, but her locks were faulty and cheap so if a particularly strong blast hit the frame the window could burst open. Mikan was just about to get into bed when this happened, she jumped as the windowpane flew open and clattered noisily against the wall, but as soon as she realized what it was she calmed down.

"Stupid window," she laughed to herself, but when she got up to close it she discovered that there was hardly even a breeze up tonight. What made the window open.

"Still in boys' clothes," someone cackled from across the room, and Mikan whirled around to face the source of the voice.

"YOU!" she yelped. What the hell was _Natsume _doing in her room? And how did he get in, for that matter?

"_Me_," he said with a smirk, and as he grinned his teeth flashed again – like last time... as the memory vaguely came back to Mikan. Perhaps this was why he didn't smile at school. People would see his secret.

"What do you want with me?!" Mikan asked in fear, and as he answered her, Natsume slowly crossed the room towards her.

"I wasn't going to visit you again," he began to explain. "Not so soon at least... but there is something..." he trailed off, and his eyes became distant. "There is something in your blood," he murmured hypnotically, baring his teeth unashamedly once more and closing in on a petrified Mikan. "After seeing you today... I have to find out more." He held out his hand to her.

"Come to me," he commanded.

"To hell I will!" Mikan retorted. Natsume snapped his fingers, and then in a blink he had Mikan's neck in his hands.

"I will find out what is in your blood," he said threateningly, twisting her head around to gain access. "Why... it's driving me _crazy_." The last thing Mikan remembered before she passed out was the oddly familiar feeling of lips against her skin.

Natsume drank deeper from Mikan this time; he accessed more of her thoughts and memory. A vampire drinking the blood of a human can access their memories and feelings, with the same power by which they can then erase the memory of being feasted on. He needed to find out why ever since tasting her blood he felt almost weak, underpowered, like she had sapped his energy instead of supplementing it with her blood.

It could damage him even more to drink any more from her, but he had to find out more about her.

However, when he did, the shock of what he saw nearly knocked him out as well. Reeling backwards, snatching his mouth away from her skin as if it could burn him, Natsume nearly let Mikan fall to the floor, but upon realizing she could bleed to her death if he didn't staunch her wound he returned to her body to seal the wound with his saliva and lay her on his bed.

He left her room the way he got in, by the window, but the look he gave the room behind him as he left it was one of pure fear.

_Mikan..._ he thought ..._can those memories be real?

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_Leave a review please!!!


	2. Midnight wishes

Sorry for the wait I had to go away for two days with my family! The scenery out there gave me some good ideas for this chapter though, see if you can tell when ;P  


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When Mikan awoke in the morning, once more she found there was more blood – her own – dried into her clothes, and her neck ached more than ever before. When she went to look at herself in the mirror she saw two shiny red marks on her neck.

_There's no way._.. she thought, but as she touched her finger against the healing pockmarks suddenly everything went dark.

_'Help' Mikan cried, only a little girl but dressed up in rags like an animal, 'help me mamma!'_

_'Your fool mother is gone', Persona laughed evilly, 'and so is your father too. She couldn't take her husband's death, so she took her own life instead.' Persona stepped closer to Mikan and then pulled her close to him by one of her pigtails. 'So now you belong to **me**,' he triumphed, and then pushed Mikan away, hard, so that she fell down on the floor._

_'Mamma...' she cried, 'Someone! Help me!'_

When Mikan came to she was curled up on the floor crying. She tried so hard to put her past behind her, but these strange happenings were bringing it closer and closer to her mind again. Going to the Academy had been her only escape from Persona after her parents died, but she had tried to make it a separate part of her life and put it behind her. Even Hotaru and Ruka had no idea how she'd suffered before the Academy.

They didn't _need _to know; it would only make them pity her. She hated being pitied by anyone.

So she cleaned herself up, put her shirt in to wash _again _and got ready for school, today she had all her uniform and even managed to get in on time.

"Good Morning Hotaru!" she said as she entered the classroom and joined her friends at the back row.

"What's that on your neck?" Hotaru asked, pointing to the reddish marks on Mikan's neck that even _she _didn't know the cause of.

"OH! That? I think I just slept funny, it'll fade later," she replied awkwardly, but then the whole classroom fell silent as Natsume walked in. If she had actually _been _in the girls' dormitory them Mikan would have known that last night the _only _thing anyone wanted to talk about was Natsume.

Thick dark hair, perfectly shaped eyes, and such a deep crimson colour; not to mention he had the build of an athlete and top grades. He already had the strong, silent type down to a tee and everyone was already practically in love with him.

Natsume stood at the front of the classroom quietly, staring out across the room as if he was looking for someone. Mikan kept her head right down and pulled up the hood on her hoodie so he couldn't see her face; she had no interest in wasting any attention on someone like _that_.

_Well_, until he sat down next to her. Already vicious gossip started forming, as Natsume walked across the classroom and sat down right next to Mikan. She glanced out from underneath her hood to look at him a few times, but didn't say anything for almost ten minutes, when Ruka arrived – and seeing Natsume in his seat – went to go and sit on the row in front of them both.

"Um... what are you doing?" Mikan finally asked as Ruka sat down in front of them.

"What?" he said angrily, as if she had asked him a massively offensive question.

"Well... I mean... why are you...?" she mumbled awkwardly; she hated having to talk to people like him like this, because she just knew they were judging everything she said.

"Sitting here?" he snapped. "What, is this a reserved seat or something?"

"No," Mikan muttered. "Well not really."

"I sit wherever I want to sit," he sniggered. "Sorry if that _offends _you."

"Look it doesn't offend me!" Mikan yelled suddenly. "I just know that someone like _you _won't have any interest in someone like _me _beyond making fun of me and pretending to be nice to mock me even more! So don't bother! I don't need your pity _or _your attitude!" She had always had a fiery temper, but never had it been more damaging to Mikan now. Natsume leant over the desk and put his perfectly sculpted chin in his hand.

"Were you always this irritable?" he teased with an arrogant smirk.

"No," Mikan said. "But something happened in my life and changed that. So leave me alone." Even though she didn't see it, at this Natsume's eyes widened a little – could she be referring to what he'd seen in her memories?

He reached out and grabbed the back of her hood, in full view of the classroom, and then pulled it back off her head revealing her face.

"_Mikan_," he said seductively, watching her blush at suddenly being touched – even just her clothes – by this mysterious guy: why would an attractive, popular boy like Natsume want to hang around her. "I couldn't stay away from you if I _tried_."

After this, he quietly got up and walked away, crossing the room to occupy an empty desk by himself, and leaving Mikan with a face redder than a tomato. Ruka quickly moved to occupy his regular seat, as everyone else burst out laughing, thinking that it was a joke and Natsume had very funnily mocked her.

"What happened there?" Ruka asked almost angrily. "Have you spoken to him before?"

"No," Mikan mumbled. "Never." Suddenly she felt something in her memory trying desperately to surface, but she couldn't' quite reach it, and it floated along just beyond her grasp.

"Then why is he paying attention to you and no one else?" Ruka said in confusion.

"Yes," added Hotaru, who had been there from the start but engrossed in wiring a new invention of hers. "It does seem quite odd."

"I wouldn't know any more than you two do," Mikan confessed, and then tried to say no more by diving into her school work. Thankfully Natsume didn't say anything else to her, or anybody, for the rest of the day. Although there was practically a fight to sit on a table with him at lunch, and plenty of people spoke to _him _if they thought they were cool enough to befriend him. The most he did was nod once or twice, and politely reject an offer from Sumire to help her 'study' after class.

However, after school that day Mikan was on her way back to the boys' dorm – Ruka had football training and Hotaru was inventing _as usual – _when Mikan bumped into the last person she wanted to see again.

"Ah," Natsume said as Mikan crossed a patch of woods to take a short cut back to the dorms. "I was hoping to run into you..."

"Huh? You?" Mikan blabbered. "But but but... what?"

"Mikan," he said seriously. "I know you won't believe me at the moment, but I have to find out if it's true."

"What's true?" Mikan said cluelessly, and Natsume took a step forwards.

"Your memories," he said threateningly, and his eyes began to darken. "I have to find out if you really know him..."

"Him? Who? What are you even on about, Hyuuga!" Mikan yelled. "I didn't ask for you to talk to me!"

"You didn't," he hissed, his voice becoming more and more angry as Mikan tried to walk away from him and he chased her, "but I need to know... do you really know _Persona_?" Just at the mention of his name, Mikan's memories swallowed her up and everything went black. She was back _there _again.

She was at the home that was no longer her home – a place that was once happy but now only held fear and terror. At first sickness when her father first became ill; then sadness when her Mother took all those pills and wrote Mikan a letter that just said goodbye and she loved her. Then the horror when _Persona _came. A relative, he said, of her father's; he was here to look after her, but he only made her work and suffer. She lost weight, stopped being recognisable as a girl and cried or bled every day and every night, usually both.

But she couldn't leave, because Persona said her parents would be so disappointed if she turned out bad, so she tried to get along, but the last string finally snapped when he threw away the only picture Mikan had left of her parents. Then she packed her bags, ran away from home and applied to the only Boarding School in the city – the Alice Academy. She got in on a bursary for 'underprivileged' children and seeing as she was homeless there wasn't much more underprivileged than _that_. There she started over. Free from her memories and past. Free from Persona.

Or so she thought.

When she came to again she was curled up in Natsume's lap, his hands combing through her hair softly and his eyes warm and caring upon her face.

"Ah" she yelped as she woke up and realized where she was. "What are you doing?!"

"You passed out," he explained. "I couldn't leave you here." That didn't explain why he needed to rest her in his lap or brush his fingers through her hair, but she didn't think to ask about that.

"Why do you know that name!" she screamed as she remembered what caused her blackout. "DID HE SEND YOU?!" Natsume pounced on Mikan as she began to scream and put his hands over her mouth, pinning her to the ground with his weight and panting angrily.

"I'd never work with that bastard!" he hissed. "So don't you even say that! Persona ruined my life, but I have to know how you know him!" Mikan's eyes started to fill with tears, as she had never thought the memory of Persona would chase her all the way here.

"I...I...I...I..." she sniffed, "I can't tell you..." she sobbed. "It's too painful to me."

His crimson orbs fixed on her. He knew that he couldn't take any more blood from her to find out any more, but he had seen enough already. He just couldn't believe that man had found his way into the life of this girl.

"How do _you _know him?" Mikan demanded when she had stopped crying so hard, although in fact she actually looked kind of tragically beautiful with crystalline tears running down her face. Natsume was silent, his arms still around Mikan's shoulders to steady her.

"He... hurt me a very long time ago," he murmured. "Perhaps he saved me too, but I can still never forgive him."

"When?" Mikan questioned.

"It doesn't matter," Nastsume growled, standing up and leaving Mikan on the ground.

"Where are you going?" Mikan questioned.

"Nowhere," he said huskily. "Just leav... I'll see you around." With that he was gone, and Mikan was left in the fading light of dusk a little way from her dormitory.

Mikan rushed home and washed her hands and face furiously, trying to scrub out wherever he may have touched her. Who _was _Natsume Hyuuga? What did he have to do with these things at night? Or Persona? Or her past?

"You seem very distracted lately," Hotaru observed, as she had visited Mikan on her way back to her own room from an inventors' convention. "Is something wrong?"

"I... well..." Mikan mumbled. "It's nothing really..."

"Oh," said Hotaru, neutral as always. "Good." Hotaru carried on with her work; perhaps if Mikan had told her the truth she might have offered to help her, but Mikan didn't want to burden her friend with her old problems. Mikan had come to Alice Academy to put them behind her, not make them an issue for everyone.

Late that night, when she couldn't get to sleep but hadn't had any more strange blackouts or occurances, Mikan got out of her room by the window and climbed onto the roof to think.

Why did Natsume have this connection to her? How did Persona relate to him? How did he _hurt _him? Natsume was one of those people who just looked like he was born perfect, without a scratch or imperfection in sight.

"What's going on?" Mikan sighed, resting her head on her arms and staring up at the star-encrusted sky. Against her will, tears began to fill her eyes again. "I thought I'd got away..." she whispered. "Seems like you'll follow me until I die, huh Persona?"

"Or worse," a rough, husky voice said behind her. Mikan whipped her head around and saw none other than Natsume.

"You?" she gasped. "Why are you...?"

"I came up here to think," he said quietly. "Seems we had the same idea." Without saying any more, he walked over to the ridge that Mikan was sitting on and sat down beside her. Propping his chin on a fist, he stared up into the sky with her. The moonlight really made his hair shine, tingeing it almost silver in the luminescent light. When he turned to look at her his eyes were sparkling with the reflections of the stars.

"You're crying," he murmured, and Mikan realize the cold sting on her face was the night breeze across her own tears. She blinked heavily and two more tears fell from her eyes. He reached up a hand and cupped her cheek, brushing away her tears with his thumb. Mikan didn't realize that the same moonlight that made him almost divine in appearance was also rendering her beautiful in his eyes too. Even through her thick clothes and unladylike behaviour.

Mikan didn't know how to react when he started to gently pull her face in toward his, and tilted his head to the side. No one had _ever _tried to kiss her before, how could she recognise it until the last minute, when she only gasped in surprise and began to shake, feeling her blood rush and skin tingly from how close she was to him.

However, before their lips could do anything but barely brush together, he moved his hand and turned her face away from him, baring up her fragile, marked neck.

"Just a little," he murmured, and Mikan felt sharper-than-human teeth drag across her skin. It was painful, but also made her entire body burn and she had to suppress a breathy moan. She felt her skin give way under another stroke of his pearl white teeth and a little of the precious blood she had left dotted the cuts and began to roll down her neck.

She then felt the rough burr of Natsume's tongue follow the trail of the blood droplet and shivers ran up her entire spine, twice he followed the length of her neck with his tongue, and then once he latched his mouth over her wounds and sucked a little blood directly from her.

Mikan's breaths were light and gasping, instinctively she had reached out to hold onto Natsume's shirt, in case she should fall, and her other hand was flailing weakly against his forearm. He tightened his grasp on her until it was almost a full embrace, and when Mikan began to feel her cheeks begin to flush and her hands to tremble he slowly pulled away.

One last contact of his mouth against her neck and her cuts began to heal, but this time he had not delved into her memories or erased what was happening from her head. Mikan was perfectly aware of the whole thing from start to finish.

"You're..." she whispered, still panting in the cold night air and needing Natsume's strong arms to steady her. "..._Vampire_."

"Yes," Natsume groaned, and gripped Mikan harder in his arms, pulling her closer until their legs were flush against each other. "But you..." he moaned primevally, his eyes dark like a rich red wine and intoxicated with her. "You make me feel _human_."

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Woo woo! I thought I'd tease you but hold back on a real kiss _just _yet ;) Hope you're enjoying it leave a review!


	3. Confused dreaming

Sorry for the late update! Thanks for all your reviews I've never had such a great response from readers before!  


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As Mikan tried not to fall asleep on Natsume's shoulder from the blood loss, he steadied her against his body on the edge of the roof.

"You're really..." she whispered breathily, feeling the sting of the cuts on her neck heal under the gentle caress of Natsume's lips, "a vampire..."

"Yes," he replied stonily. "I am."

"How..." she gasped, "how, how...."

"How long for? How did it happen?" he suggested. "It's been about five years since I was transformed, and I'm sure it wouldn't surprise you to know who my sire was." Mikan gazed at him in confusion, so he answered her query. "Persona," he said bitterly. "_That _person did this to me."

Mikan was about to say something, when suddenly Natsume's grip tightened on her threateningly.

"You cannot tell anyone," he hissed. "If you tell a soul... I'll..."

"I won't," Mikan interrupted; she knew full well what he was insinuating: he would kill her. "You've... done this to me before, haven't you?" She felt for her neck, for the marks that had just started appearing in the past few days. Natsume nodded, and Mikan realized what her late night blackouts were – why she couldn't remember things, why she woke up in blood, and why she had felt she'd seen Natsume before she ever could have met him.

In so little a time their stories had become intertwined, and as she stared deep into his eyes, he spoke to her.

"Your blood," he said carefully. "There is something odd about it... something different to any other." Mikan realized now that he must have drunk the blood of hundreds of different people; she wondered if he'd ever killed someone before – he hadn't killed her when he first met her, so perhaps he was not a murderer but just someone who fed on people, then erased their minds as he had with hers. That was it would be easier for him to hide at least.

"My blood?" she said curiously.

"Yes; normally the blood of a human makes me strong, and strengthens my impulse to kill," he explained. "At first you feel normal, as if nothing has changed, but to survive you have to have blood, and the more you have the greater the urge is to drink more, and soon it becomes almost impossible not to kill. I was fighting that urge," he confessed, "and that was why I had to move on to Alice Academy. I was half mad when I came across you, but..." His voice hitched suddenly, and then he continued in a low, svelte tone.

"Your blood doesn't do that. It soothes the urge, nulls it, softens the sharp voice telling me to kill." He looked down at his own well toned body, honed to hunt people just like her. "It makes me feel weaker... but the more I have, the more I recognise the feeling. It's _human_," he muttered. "For some reason your blood doesn't feed the... the vamp in me."

"So now what?" Mikan questioned. "What does that mean?! You can't just use my blood like that! It's mine you know! So what are you going to do?!"

"I don't know," he retorted. "I'll... I don't know!" In a flash he was on his feet and gone, running across the roof and out of sight faster than a human could. Mikan was left to climb back into her room on her own, her head spinning with what she had leant. That night she found it impossible to sleep a wink; how could she, knowing what she now knew, and without any closure seeing as Natsume ran off without saying a thing to her.

The next day at school Mikan's friends noticed instantly something was wrong.

"Mikan, are you getting sick?" Ruka said worriedly. "You look awful."

"Thanks," Mikan said sarcastically. "I just had a bad night's sleep, Ruka, I'm fine." However, he wouldn't let up, and eventually she snapped at him. "I'm FINE!" she shouted. "Just leave me alone!" Just as she said this Natsume finally walked in – late. Without a second thought Mikan charged up to him.

"You've got some explaining to do," she said angrily. "After running off like that." Suddenly, however, Mikan felt a manicured hand on her shoulder.

"Um, _excuse you_," Sumire announced snootily, "but what do you think you're doing talking to Natsume?" Mikan whirled around to face the elitist queen of their class.

"Sorry," Natsume interjected, speaking coldly to Sumire. "I was speaking to Mikan." He turned his gaze back to her and went on to completely ignore Sumire. "I had to go last night," he explained to Mikan, "I needed time alone. I'll... leave you alone for now," he said quietly. "That's what you want, right?"

Mikan looked stunned; was that what she wanted? She didn't want to be his personal walking blood tank, but did she want him gone completely from her life before she even knew him?

However, before she could say anything more he had turned and walked away from her again. Without thinking Mikan chased him and pulled him back by his jacket.

"But... your secret!" she hissed in his ear, in full view of their bemused classmates.

"I'll trust you to keep it," he said icily, and then gave her a chilling look, smirking slightly as he walked away so that the faintest gleam of his teeth shone. Mikan was left the centre of attention of her entire class.

"What is going on, Mikan?" Hotaru questioned as Mikan skulked back to her seat.

"It's just some weird stuff that happened to me lately," Mikan muttered, "don't worry about me it's nothing really."

"Oh," said Hotaru, her eyes on the textbook already. "Okay then." Hotaru, fortunately or unfortunately enough, never took even her closest of friends for more than they said; it was just how she was. Ruka was too scolded by Mikan to chance probing her any more, and for the rest of the day she stayed in a slowly darkening mood, as Natsume returned to blissfully ignoring her existence as he would've had they not met that dark night.

By the time class ended she had so many questions in her head she thought it might explode, and it was a struggle just to get back to her room, tolerate the latest jests from her roommates – today that she had a crush on the new boy, as seen by her performance today – and collapse into bed. It occurred to her that she was probably feeling so weak and listless because of a lack of blood in her body thanks to _someone's _interference with it, but at the same time she wondered if perhaps he'd change his mind and turn up.

Only yesterday he had said he couldn't stay away from her if he tried, but now she worried he might do just the opposite.

Her fears were well founded, as it got later and later and still Natsume did not appear anywhere. Mikan wondered how she could miss someone she barely knew. She fell asleep denying the tears that were in her eyes, and woke up feeling worse than ever before.

She had nightmares of Persona that night, as Natsume had brought the horrible years she spent under his torment back from the depths of her mind. Persona was evil, but she had never thought he could have been a Vampire. Did that mean he had been drinking her blood for all that time? No, Mikan felt sure he hadn't but why not? Why were she and Natsume connected through him.

'_You are mine, Mi-chan,' _Persona said to her in her dreams. _'You will be forever.'_

When Mikan woke up she felt too sick to even move, and simply trying to stand up nearly made her pass out completely. She knew she couldn't make it out of bed and all the way to class, not without throwing up or worse. She wished that Natsume could be here for her, even though she knew it didn't really make any sense. Although that could be the illness taking, as it was not unknown for too many nightmares of her past to make her ill and delusional.

So she decided to just sleep it off in bed and try not to think about _anything _in particular, least of all Natsume. She was too nauseous to eat anyway, so she just drifted in and out of sleep between reading some of her favourite manga.

She had already missed lunch when there was finally a knock at her door; she assumed it was going to be one of her best friends checking up on her, and maybe bringing some food for her.

However, it was not what she had expected.

"You're not in class," Natsume rushed as he burst in through the door as soon as she said 'come in', and in seconds he was at the side of her bed. "Why not?!"

Mikan leapt under her covers in shock – she was only sleeping wearing a strappy top with a rabbit on it and checked shorts! Then she mumbled out in embarrassment at Natsume, "I'm sick."

"Sick? How? What with?" he said worriedly. "It can't be blood loss I thought I left enough..."

Mikan peeked over the top of the covers and was almost happy to see how worried Natsume really looked. "I'm fine," she said quietly. "I just get sick sometimes, it's no big deal."

"Well it's a big deal to _me," _Natsume said coldly. "If you die..."

"I thought you were going to leave me alone," she said cruelly. "What difference would it make if I was dead or alive?"

"Don't say that!" he hissed viciously, his eyes flashing an angry red. "Don't talk like that until you know the value of your own _human_ life." Mikan realized that Natsume spoke as someone who no longer was human, and who could even be described as already dead.

"Oh... I didn't mean..." she whispered awkwardly.

"Never mind," he snapped. "Just tell me what's wrong." He leant further over her bed, and in her feverish delusion Mikan simply grabbed for one of his hands and held it tight.

"It doesn't matter," she said softly. "You're here now. I'm okay," she breathed softly, "I'm okay..." By the time Natsume could lean over to see her face, she had fallen asleep; so he sat down on the side of the bed and felt the human warmth of her hand in his. He had been trying to stay away for her good, not his own – could it really be that his absence made her ill? Or that his presence could soothe it at any rate. He wasn't sure, but, at least now he could perhaps find out a little more about the nullifying properties of her blood.

When she recovered, of course. He wouldn't want to endanger the holder of blood that could possibly save his very humanity, would he?

"Where do you think Mikan is?" Ruka asked Hotaru while they sat next to each other in Mikan's absence.

"She must be ill, she hasn't seemed too well these past few days," Hotaru replied coolly.

"I suppose... I'm quite worried about her," Ruka said worriedly.

"Yes, as am I," said Hotaru unconvincingly. "But I expect it is nothing serious."

"Yes, I hope so," replied Ruka; his face downcast.

"I was supposed to go to see a film with her in Central Town tonight," Hotaru announced. "I have a spare ticket now, as I assume she is not well enough for recreation if she is not well enough for study. Would you like to have her ticket, as I now have one spare?"

"Uhhhh," Ruka stammered, stunned that Hotaru – ice queen extraordinare – would ask him to go anywhere with her in _any _circumstance. He was so stunned, in fact, that all he could say was, "Uh... sure." And then stare in confusion as she smiled, nodded and then stood up and walked away.

It was only then that Ruka thought... did that mean they were going out on a date? Well, he was taking Mikan's place so unless _she _was going on a date with Hotaru he thought he wouldn't be. So it'd just be as friends, definitely. Just friends going to the cinema with each other and no one else.

Ruka frowned slightly, and wondered why there were butterflies in his stomach as he left class at the end of the day.

Mikan dreamt she was at home with her parents, she ran happily between them, her arms outstretched with a hand in each of theirs. She was the happiest she's ever known; her father picks her up, his arms strong around her, and hugs her to his chest.

But then something in the dream changed, and she was no longer hugging her dad – no, a father wouldn't hug like this; nor would his lips brush so softly and tenderly against hers, touching once, twice and then pressing down for a stronger contact. She kissed the dream back, and when she opened her eyes rich red orbs started back into hers.

Then she opened her eyes for real, and saw that she was in her room, alone, as usual. Only there was a warm indentation in her bed still, as if someone had just fled from sitting there only seconds ago. She shook it out of her head and rolled over, going back to sleep and hoping to recapture the beauty of that dream again.

Except then she heard a sound by her door, sitting bolt upright in bed she locked eyes with the eyes of her dream, the eyes of Natsume – he had been here the whole time, by her side, and she wasn't even awake to thank him! Had that kiss been real?

"Natsume!" she cried, leaping forwards in bed and almost passing out from the head rush. Her lips burned and her fingers tingled – the kiss had to be real, it just _had _to be, but the look in Natsume's eyes was of fear, and not of romance. Before she could get up properly, though, he was gone. Mikan had no option but to wait until the next day, and hope that she was well enough to get to class and confront Natsume about what was going on between them.

The next day, however, was more hectic than the day Natsume had arrived. When Mikan got into the classroom people were bustling about all over the place and the gossip was at such a loud level she could barely hear herself think.

"What's going on?" Mikan tried to ask someone, but that was when she turned and saw.

Natsume strode forth from the back of the classroom, his hair in crooked, dark peaks over his almond face and his eyes glowing hotly in the direction of anyone who dared to get too close. Everyone, of course, except the _new _new student.

Waist length silver hair, almost luminescent in colour, and delicately curled and straightened to frame her delicate pixiesh face in an ethereal way. But her eyes were cold, almost dead, and her hands clasped Natsume's shoulder as if they had been _told _to, not because they wanted to. Natsume's arm sat loosely around her waist, and it looked obvious enough to everyone that they were involved.

But still Mikan had to ask, there was no way this could be real – hadn't he almost or actually _kissed _her last night?!

"Who's that?!" she blurted rudely to Natsume, barging through her classmates to stand in front of the pair; Natsume zapped his gaze to her in shock, as if this were the _last _place he'd ever expect to see her, even though it was their own classroom.

"I'm Luna Kozumi," the girl supplied, a sweet but slightly sinister grin on her petite face and delicate features; she stared at Mikan as if she were a slightly unpleasant bug she had come across by accident on the toe of her perfectly buffed, stiletto shoe. "I'm Natsume's _girlfriend_."

* * *

Another cliffy kind of, haha. I'll be nice though ;) (Or will I?) Leave a review please please please I want to know what you think of my fic!


	4. The Final RipOff

Sorry about the late update I had my results come out and stuff but I didn't forget this fanfic! ^_^

* * *

Mikan stared, aghast, at the girl before her.

"Yes, I'm Natsume-kun's girlfriend," she said smugly. "Didn't he tell you?" Mikan didn't know what to think, hadn't Natsume kissed her in her sleep only last night? And where was this girl even from?

"I... I... I..."

Did she even know he was a vampire? So many questions Mikan could not answer. What if _she _was a vampire too, that would make sense.

"If you're thinking I'm a bloodsucker, Mikan-chan," Luna said sharply, leaning over so no one else could overhear her. "You'd be _right_, Natsume has told me all about you. He's lucky I got here in time."

"What?" Mikan said dumbly, which was pretty normal for her.

"If _Persona _hadn't detected Natsume's killing impulse getting weaker I might not have got here in time," Luna said. "Persona-sama is so knowing like that," she sighed, and Mikan suddenly reazlised the most horrifying thing of her whole life.

Persona was not simply evil... _he _was a vampire too! All those years tormenting Mikan, he was probably going to change her into one too if she hadn't escaped in time. Had he done the same thing to Natsume then? Had Natsume suffered the same hell she had?

"Luna," Natusme himself interrupted cruelly. "She understands, you can leave." Luna squealed and wrapped her arms around Natsume's shoulder.

"But _Natsume!" _she squeaked. "Is that any way to talk to your girlfriend?!" Mikan shuddered again to hear her say that word girlfriend again, and from the corner of his eye Natsume noticed.

"For the last time, Luna, you are not my girlfriend," he said stonily.

"But Persona-sama says we must!" Luna screamed. "Not that I object, but you _can't _reject me, Natsume,or Persona will be mad with you."

Natsume stared Luna straight in the eyes with his hot flaming orbs, burning like the anger within himself. Suddenly he grabbed Mikan's hand, and pulled her close to him; she wasn't aware of what was happening until he put one hand on the side of her face and pulled it to face his, then planted his lips hotly over her own.

He was kissing her.

In their _classroom! _In front of Luna! As embarassed as she was, Mikan couldn't help but feel dizzied by the sensation, it was hypnotic. Natsume's lips pressed against her own and parted them gently; the kiss deepened and she felt as if she could drown in the soft feeling.

Then, with one almighty rip the author tore through the fourth wall and jumped straight into the classroom, the façade finally abandoned and the anger hot in her veins. In a clear, bell-like voice she announced.

"This. Story. Is. AWFUL!" and then proceeded to explain herself.

This is a horrible piece of fanfiction. HORRIBLE. I wrote this as a demonstration of just how well absolute trash will sell in this fandom – grammatically, yes, it's sound (just about) but the plot, characters, style of writing and general premise are all chosen deliberately and specifically to be _crap, _and here's why.

The basic premise this story is _awful_, why may you ask? It has no originality _whatsoever_. There's a vampire, and I neglect to explain how or why, or even what the hell he's doing in a school plot, he just _is, _like the hoards of other vampire fanfictions in existance_._ The first scene is just Mikan getting her blood sucked out by some douchebag vampire with _no background information at all_. This is poor writing, everything else that happens after it – also poor.

The fact that Natsume then _turns up at school _the next day as a 'transfer student'; this plot twist/development is cliché, predictable and unimaginative. Then when LUNA, the most unpopular whore competition turned up too that was EVEN. WORSE.

Also in the 'cliché' and 'predictable' catagories are – Hotaru and Ruka 'going to the cinema' Mikan's 'traumatic abusive past' and the fact that Persona is the bad guy in all situations. AND A VAMPIRE TOO.

I've also destroyed traditional Vampire folklore by making a Vampire that is basically not one – Natsume can walk in the daylight, has mindreading and control powers and _healing spit: _that is as bad as making Vampires sparkle in the sun, and I MEAN bad. He doesn't kill his victims and I've still yet to explain WHY EXACTLY THERE ARE VAMPIRES IN THIS WORLD?! Does no one care?

Good fiction would somehow explain that – mutated viruses, ancient species throughout history kept in hiding, an alternate world in which supernatural creatures existed in all forms. However, this story leaves you blank, and not considering the context of said fiction is a cheap and easy tactic.

Now to move onto the writing, as I use enough bad language in this as it is – the style is weak and descriptions weak too. A few examples that stand out in my mind are 'midnight hair' and anything involving the word 'orbs' in the place of eyes. HOW can hair be midnight and eyes are not orbs, they are eyes – these are weak phrases that denote even weaker writing, and you would catch me dead saying 'crimson orbs' in a piece of work I was trying to make _good_.

The characters, also, are cheap imitations of themselves – Ruka is soppy and caring, Hotaru cold, Mikan alternates between out of character emo and a crude version of her stupid, clumsy self, and Natsume simply has no personality.

I leave out that Ruka has a strong side, cares about his reputation and can get angry very easily when he's provoked, I ignore that Hotaru loves Mikan underneath all the coldness and if she knew something was wrong would certainly find out what it was, and I've forgotten that Mikan is an exceptional optimist who never accepts anyone having a lesser lot than others and will fight, stand up for herself and others in any kind of circumstance. She has a lot of friends and likes to make more, she does not angst and never pities her own lot; she is very compassionate and not at all weak.

Natsume too is a very complex character I simply reduced to being 'generally a douchbag and slightly perverted' and then making him a soppy caring doting idiot when I wanted romance to force itself upon the story.

Which brings us on to the romance – there is no reason that Natsume should have any reason to pursue, care or have feelings for Mikan at any point in the story so far, the only reason there is is because they are canon in the anime/manga and that means that THEY HAVE TO BE IN THE STORY TOO. No, there is no explanation or background to this flimsy flimsy romance, and the characters have feelings because I've handed them to them and said 'it doesn't matter why just DO IT'.

This is a poor, poor, poor fanfition story and it got over twenty reviews on its first chapter. I have NEVER had that many reviews on a first chapter, EVER, and over 60 for just three chapters is a record too.

A while ago I worked my ass off to write an entry for the 'Natsumeseries contest' and produced a 9000 word oneshot that I was finally happy with and felt was a really good piece of fanfiction for me; it had action, good interaction between Natusme and Mikan, a strong charcterisation for both of them and a circular structure where the first scene is actually the last one -- it has a lone twelve reviews, which is HALF what the first chapter of this story polled. HALF of what an unexplained vampire sucking blood unconvincingly out of a characterless Mikan got.

This proves wholeheatedly what I hate most about this fandom. Crap sells. People just don't care about originality, imaginative storylines, characterisation or a clever plot. They just want to read about a vampire Natsume making hot lips with Mikan and nothing else really matters.

So if you feel angered by this or cheated, flame me all you want, because if you loved this story and can't believe I wrote it all as a big joke to troll you with for three chapters (which I did) your taste in fiction is questionable by my standards and you've been completely had. No, I will not be finishing the story, but I will tell you how it would have finished if we follow the lines of cliche and unoriginality.

Luna starts trying to kill Mikan and Natsume has to protect her in the process of this they fall in love and make hot hot makeouts on the bed before he drinks her blood (for the lolz) and then they realise that her blood makes him become more human. Natsume wants to become human again but to do it would kill Mikan and he loves her SO MUCH right now he'd never do that NOT EVER. Luna tries to make it look like she's had sex with Natsume in classic whore-mode so Mikan gets upset and then Natsume tells her he never did NOT EVEN ONCE and she forgives him and they spit in Luna's face or something.

Persona turns up at the climax like any bad vampire should, and tries to kill Mikan so that Natsume can be with Luna forever – because bad guys just LOVE matchmaking – and reveals he would've made Mikan into a vampire to be Natusme's mate if she hadn't run away and it's ironic that now he's trying to keep her away from doing that. IRONY GEDDIT.

Somehow shit goes down Persona dies probably and then Natsume must make a choice between staying as a Vampire or becoming human and likely killing Mikan. Mikan wants him to have his life back so she tells him – injured and possibly almost dead herself – to do it so that he can become human, so Natsume's all SLUUURRRP SLUUURP until the taste of blood finally becomes repulsive to him, proving that he is human again. In his human form he struggles to rush Mikan to hospital BUT MAKES IT IN THE END SO THAT THEY CAN LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Ignoring the fact that in the first chapter I said that Ruka was in love with Mikan too and never mentioned it again =D Or that there are any other characters.

THE. END.

Thankyou, fangirls, and goodnight. I hope you learned something today.


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